Of Elves and Gifts
by Glenonaya
Summary: Spending the Midwinter feast amongst the elves, Jim and Spock exchange gifts. Fantasy AU


_Fantasy AU with Spock as an elf that can change into a dragon and Jim as a knight errant. It's all FeralVulcans' and Heatheerly's fault._

_As ever I couldn't have done this without my beta Lucycantdance._

_Written for the K/S Advent Calender 2014_

Jim hovered a few feet down the corridor from the open door to Spock's room, trying to summon up the courage to step inside.

Unlike humans who exchanged Midwinter gifts in large groups, elves exchanged them one on one or in small groups of rarely more than five. Ever since sunset he had tried to find Spock alone for a few moments to give him his gift, but every time he had arrived at the elf's room the door had been closed, signalling that either Spock was not there or that he had another gift giver. In either case Jim would not intrude. Apart from the fact that it would be very bad manners – though as he was human such a lapse might be forgiven – this was Spock's first Midwinter Feast with his own people in many years. The curse that had kept him locked in dragon form had also kept him away from his people and only now did he have a chance to build and rebuild relationships with his own kind. Jim would not begrudge his lover the friends he had, and was happy to leave Spock to exchange his gifts in peace.

The knight had instead occupied himself by giving his own gifts to those that _he_ was close to. First Spock's parents, then Nyota and Christine – as it had been impossible to pry the two of them away from each other, they too had received their gifts together.

Bones had been easy to find, holed up in his own rooms with a bottle of brandy, grumbling about weird elvish customs and the cold weather. As Jim had given him his gift he had noticed a pair of fur-lined gloves and their matching scarf lying on a low table near the window – the same scarf and gloves he had noticed the day before in Spock's room. He had wondered who the elf intended them for since the gloves were far too small for his own hands. Now he had his answer, though it led to the question of what the irascible healer had given the elf in return.

Finally he had located T'Pring. He had been in doubt as to whether or not he should get a gift for Spock's childhood friend and former intended, since he was not sure if elvish custom required it of him. Feeling awkward in asking Spock about it, he had ended up deciding that giving a gift that was not expected was better than not giving anything if it was. T'Pring's behaviour and her return gift – a book by an elven poet Jim had expressed admiration for – indicated that she had indeed expected a gift.

As there was no one else present that he was remotely close enough to for proffered gifts to be expected, he had returned to the house hoping that Spock would finally be free. And indeed, Spock's door was ajar.

Which led to the situation Jim now found himself in, hovering and hesitating.

Well, he was going to have to go inside sometime, so he picked up his courage, pushed the door open, stepped through and closed it behind him.

His lover was seated on the low couch next to the fireplace dressed in breeches and tunic, both the traditional brown and embroidered with silver white thread, his long hair in its common tight braid down his back.

As ever when he laid eyes on the elf, Jim couldn't help but be struck, not only by how beautiful he was, but also how self-contained. But then, it couldn't be easy having even one type of mixed blood, and Spock had three: elf, dragon and human. Though it appeared that Spock had made a truce with his hybrid nature, Jim had often seen in the elf the desire to belong to one place fully, and noticed the quiet happiness that settled on him when he had returned to the realm of his upbringing.

The other looked up at him from the book he had been reading, frowning slightly at the sight of the wrapped bundle in Kirk's hand. Elves did not usually wrap presents, they didn't see the need for it, so the fact that Jim had wrapped his gift to Spock in a silk scarf would certainly be counted as peculiar.

He wasn't sure why he had felt the need to wrap up _this_ present as he had not done so with any of the others – partly to stick to elven tradition, but mostly because he was lazy.

No, that wasn't true; he knew all too well why he had wrapped up Spock's present. He had put his heart into it and now he was terrified of how it would be received.

He had spent weeks trying to figure out what to give his lover, but when he stumbled across the small tome that he was now carrying he knew he had found the present he was looking for. It was a book of poems, describing a relationship from first meeting, through marriage and obstacles up until death.

Jim had tried to raise the point of marriage – or _joining_ as it was known among elves, involving as it did a deeper connection amongst elven spouses than human marriage – but the elf had always changed the subject. And though he had never spoken of finding an elf to join with, Jim could not help but worry.

"Will you not sit?" Spock's deep voice resonated with puzzlement.

Blinking, Jim realised that he had been wool-gathering just inside the door for several minutes. Moving across the room he sat down on the couch next to Spock.

Wordlessly he held out the bundle to the elf, who took it and gently unwrapped it.

Lifting the revealed tome from its wrapping, the elf traced his fingers over the titled carved in the cover.

"I am familiar with the volume," the elf said slowly.

For a moment Spock seemed to consider something, then he rose and went to the chest of drawers by the wall. Opening the top drawer, he pulled out an item small enough to fit inside his hand. He returned to his seat and when he opened his hand Jim saw the beautiful piece of jewellery that lay in his palm.

The cord was simple braided leather, but the pendant... the pendant was shaped like two leaves intersecting, one maple – made of gold – the other oak – carved from jade – clasping each other like hands. A _relkoh-kihsev_, a piece of jewellery an elf would give as part of an offer to make a romantic relationship more permanent, not a proposal exactly but close.

Spock proffered his hand.

"This is my Midwinter gift to you, if you will accept it?"

Jim tore his eyes away from the pendant and looked up at the elf. The black haired male's face was utterly impassive, giving away nothing, but in his eyes the knight could see a shadow of... uncertainty.

"I... thought..." Jim found himself unable to finish the sentence.

"You have feared that I would abandon you for one of my own people. Jim, the elves have many tales of unions between us and humans that ended in tragedy because neither were aware of what that meant. If I have been overly cautious it was never because I doubted your loyalty or what lies in your heart, but due only to thoughts of the restlessness of human nature and the bond all elves have to their land. A bond that you will share should we join."

"But you want to..." Jim's gaze flickered to the pendant that still lay in Spock's palm.

"Indeed. I do not wish to exchange you for another, Jim. But know what you accept. The giving of this is permanent, you cannot give it back any more than I can demand its return. It is not a joining, but it is the beginning of one."

Jim nodded. His hands trembling, he gently took hold of the soft leather cord and lifted it from Spock's hand. The gold sparkled merrily as he put it around his neck, the feel of the cord making something heavy lift from his heart.

"I'll never take it off," Jim smiled.

"I should think not." The elf wore a matching smile as he leaned in and kissed his intended.

_relkoh-kihsev: pledge token_


End file.
